GOLF / U.S. WOMEN’S AMATEUR : Ingram, USC’s McGill in Title Match

USC senior Jill McGill and Nashville’s Sarah Ingram will battle for the 93rd U.S. Women’s Amateur championship in a 36-hole match today at San Diego Country Club.

They are the survivors of a field of 147 that began play Monday over the hilly 6,263-yard course.

Ingram fought her way through the tough bracket, beating Pacific 10 Conference champion Wendy Ward of Arizona State, 1 up, in one semifinal match. McGill, who won six holes in a row beginning with No. 2, easily ousted Brittany Schaff of Montana, a senior at New Mexico, 5 and 4, in the other.

In morning matches, Ward defeated tournament favorite Debbi Koyama of Monrovia, 1 up, in a wild match; Ingram eliminated Estafania Knuth, the 20-year-old Spaniard, 3 and 2; Schaff beat the other foreign player, Pernille Pedersen of Denmark, 5 and 3, and McGill advanced with a 4-and-2 victory over Kelly Pittman, the Florida State graduate student.

The final match pits experience against youth. Ingram, 27, is a rarity in modern golf. She is a perennial amateur. This is her ninth U.S. Women’s Amateur, but the first time she has survived the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, McGill, a Denver resident, is playing in this event for the third time. Until Wednesday, McGill, 20, had never won a U.S. Amateur match.

“I’m learning about match play,” the long-hitting 6-foot player said after two easy victories. “I’m playing just about as well as I can, but tomorrow I have to play better. I’ve played mostly in medal play, but this is exciting. I’ve learned you can’t go wrong building an early lead. But this is my first 36-hole match. You need to be patient.”

The two most exciting matches involved Ward, a 20-year-old junior. She beat Koyama as the former UCLA golfer, with a chance to win, bogeyed the last two holes.

Ingram, after making a spectacular birdie on No. 15 to go two up on Ward, missed a chance to clinch on No. 17 when she three-putted from eight feet. Her first putt down a steep hill went four feet past. She won when both golfers bogeyed No. 18.

Ingram has been brilliant most of the tournament. Against former champion Carol Semple Thompson, she had six consecutive birdies. She has been near or below par in almost every match.

“Yet, going to 17 (Friday) against Wendy, for the first time all week, I was nervous,” Ingram said. “I started shaking. I don’t understand why, I was 2 up with two to go.”

She wasn’t nervous on No. 15, the 377-yard par-four that proved decisive. She had missed a short birdie putt on No. 14 that would have put her 2 up. Her drive on the 15th hooked into the rough 170 yards from the hole. She hit a five-iron five feet below the hole, then sank the putt for a birdie.

“That was the shot for me,” she said. “I knew it would fly, but it was setting up nicely. The ball landed short and rolled up almost to the flag.”

Although she never made it to the semifinal round in this event before, Ingram is a veteran of 36-hole matches, having played “about five of them,” she said.